Can Colorado Cope with Growth?

"According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, Colorado is on track to add a million more residents by 2015. The population is expected to grow by still another million by 2025, bringing the total number of residents to 6.4 million. Much of that population will gravitate to cities, particularly those in the sprawling Front Range.

Andrew Goetz, chair of the University [of Denver's] geography department and a specialist in urban, economic and transportation geography, notes that since 1990, Colorado's population grew by more than 44 percent, bringing the number of people in the state to 4.75 million, up from 3.3 million in 1990. Goetz says, 'metropolitan areas are faced with a basic choice...Their choice is whether to push the growth out or to focus on containing the population within boundaries and on providing transportation alternatives with minimized impact on the environment.'

Metropolitan Denver has opted for the second of these choices -- much to Goetz's delight. 'Denver, in going ahead with FasTracks, is making a tremendous statement about the future,' he explains, noting that FasTracks, a voter-approved transit plan, will expand Denver's existing light-rail service throughout the metropolitan area. Over the next decade, no other American city will build more rail transit than Denver. What's more, the various cities in the metropolitan area are encouraging transit-oriented development -- high-density residential and commercial projects within walking and biking distance of bus stations and light-rail stops. The goal, Goetz says, is to prevent sprawl, preserve open space and reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled."